Madness in Zexal
by LaZella
Summary: Yuma's been down and been having nightmares since Astral returned to Astral world and Kotori is worried about him but he's being stubborn insisting he's fine. Kotori wants to help him but a trip through the looking glass tosses both of them on a very interesting story and meet an unusual woman named Alice.
1. Through the Looking Glass

First I'll admit that this fic exists because I wanted a good excuse to design new outfits stuff and I was excited for the Alice Otherland shorts to come out next month. So my imagination went wild and….yeah….this happened. So have fun for extreme mental trauma! You can find the domain outfit designs on my tumblr, I'll put a link in my profile.

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><p>The breeze was pleasant, carrying a scent of fresh grass and water. The sun wasn't that bright and was resting at a three o clock position. Overall they were pleasant conditions that Yuma enjoyed when he wanted to nap outside, if it wasn't for the situation he was currently in. Loose dirt in a crater and his head pounding like crazy were dead give always that something happened. He eased himself up into a sitting position brushing the dirt out of his hair.<p>

_What happened?_ He wondered, _The last thing that I remember was that I was at the café with Kotori._

Yuma stood up and took a good look at his surroundings, thoroughly confused with what he saw. Giant dominos were embedded into the ground, butterflies where flying around but seemed to have bodies made of bottles, there was a creek nearby but the origin of it seemed to be a statue of a girl crying.

"Did someone slip something into my drink?" Yuma wondered aloud. That's when he noticed something else was different, his clothes had changed. Gone were his favorite shirt and vest, in their place was a white dress shirt with rather baggy sleeves that were brought together in cuffs. A deep red vest was buttoned over that with black lapels and Yuma found a silver pocket watch in a pocket with a chain hooked to a button but the hands on the clock face were spinning like crazy. The pants were white like his usual but lacked designs and black dress shoes where the place of his sneakers. Thankfully, the Emperor's Key was still in its place around his neck.

"Well, this isn't creepy in the slightest. I wonder if Cathy has something to do with all of this. Kinda suits her too…" Yuma groaned thinking of the possible elaborate pranks that his friends may be playing on him.

"A trick you say, or is it just an excuse to conveniently forget the truth?"

Yuma spun around to face the new voice and took a step back in fright. There was a cat, or at least he hoped it was a cat yet it stood at about his height and looked horribly emaciated though it seemed to not care with that grin on its face that had what Yuma hoped wasn't dried blood on the teeth. Its gold eyes seemed to give him a good look over, "Strangers rarely pass through Wonderland, and its rulers don't take too kindly to trespassers."

"Look, I don't know what your problem is, but I have no idea how I got here….much less anything else that has happened today." Yuma could not believe that he was arguing with a talking cat, but then again consider what he's been through in the past few months, anything was possible.

"Oh really, because the mind has funny ways to forget the terrible things. Have you truly forgotten the circumstances that brought you here?" The cat asked.

"What do you…" Then it all came back to Yuma…

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><p>"<em>Do we really have to meet here?" Yuma asked.<em>

"_You wanted help with homework but every place you suggested didn't work out." Kotori huffed at him._

"_At least I didn't pick the cheesiest café in town," Yuma glanced around at all the pink and heart decorations, "Didn't they get the memo that Valentine's Day was over? This is a place that I expect Cathy to choose."_

_Kotori pouted upon hearing Cathy's name, "There you go again, mentioning Cathy comparing everything I do to her."_

"_I don't."_

"_You do! You're just being very ungrateful right now!" Kotori was getting mad._

"_Why are you getting so upset!?" Yuma cried out._

"_Well I'm not the one who's been moody for the past few weeks!" Kotori snapped._

"_I am not moody."_

"_Yuma…" Kotori's tone changed to a gentler one, "Don't try to hide it, it's really obvious to all of us. Even Shark and Kaito have noticed. You're missing Astral."_

"_Of course I miss him. He went back to Astral World and hasn't sent a single message."Yuma sighed leaning against the table._

"_I mean more than just missing missing…..you've been down more than usual. You don't eat as much and it's become harder to get you to leave your house to do anything. And don't say you haven't been like this all the time. You've just been doing this a lot more recently."_

_Yuma just started drawing circles with his finger on the table, "I don't know what you are talking about."Truthfully, there was one thing he didn't want her to find out. He had been having nightmares, almost every night now and it was the same thing every single time. He failed, he didn't save Astral, he didn't save any of his friends, and he lost to Don Thousand. It happened every night forcing him awake and couldn't fall back to sleep for hours. Before if he had a nightmare Astral would be there to help him calm down but was on his own now._

_Kotori let a grunt, "Do we really need to do an intervention and get everyone here? Because we will!"_

"_You don't have to baby me!"_

"_We're not babying you! Seriously Yuma, we are all getting concerned."_

_Yuma groaned and leaned back in his chair, "I'm totally fine."_

"_You are just so….." Kotori stood up from her seat looking like she was ready to hit Yuma but paused when she looked at the mirror they were sitting next to, "Did you see that?"_

"_See what?" Yuma stood up and looked in the mirror as well grateful for whatever it was spared him from Kotori's wrath._

"_I could off swear I saw the mirror ripple." Kotori tapped it a few times testing its surface "Must have been my….There it is again!"_

_Kotori was right, the mirror surface was rippling like it was water. But was shocked them most happened next, a red bloodied clawed hand shot out of the mirror grabbing Kotori's arm and pulled her in._

"_KOTORI!" Yuma screamed and grabbed her ankle trying to pull her back but felt the floor give out from underneath him and was pulled in as well._

"_Let go of me!" Kotori was doing her best to bash at the hand but to no avail as it kept its grip. Yuma's grip on the other hand was slipping, "Kotori, grab my hand!"_

_Kotori did her best to reach around and grab Yuma's outstretched hand only for a another claw hand to shoot out of nowhere grabbing Yuma's wrist with near breaking force and yanked him away from Kotori._

_**BEGONE BOY! SHE'S MINE!**_

_A deranged voice echoed out from somewhere as the hand threw him in a direction sending Yuma tumbling to who knows where. All he could see where clocks, furniture, tea sets, toys, then…blackness._

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><p>"Oh no….Kotori!" Yuma started calling out to her, "Kotori! Where are you?!" He turned back to the cat, "Do you know something?!"<p>

The cat just purred, "The queens are restless, regardless of who's in charge. One of them is responsible for your arrival, but which queen? Red or white? That is for you to decide." And right before Yuma's eyes, the cat vanished.

Yuma sighed and looked around, "Hold on Kotori….I'll figure this out." With that, he started to make is way down the path hopefully in the right direction.

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><p>Alice Liddle woke with a start, something happened. Ever since Wonderland fused with reality Alice had chosen to do nothing about it and instead focused on repairing the damage Bumby had caused. The process was slow but Alice was able for feel her control over Wonderland and her mind grow stronger as the years passed. But now…something was wrong. Something foreign was in her Wonderland. She grabbed the Vorpel Blade from her bedside, still sharp as the first day she used it, she wasn't going to have a repeat of what happened with Bumby. This time she was going to kill the weed at its root.<p> 


	2. Too Many Hearts and Odd Weapons

Kotori body slammed the door for the fifth time but it refused to yield. She huffed and sat on the bed again, it felt like ages since she woke up in this bizarre room. Well the only thing bizarre was the over abundance of red and hearts for decorations. Other than that, it seemed rather normal. A four poster bed with plenty of sheets and curtains, a dresser with a mirror but the chair for it was destroyed due to Kotori using it in an attempt to smash the window open. Food in the form of tea and cherry tarts had been slipped through the door though a flap but it didn't budge when Kotori tried to open it. For now the food remained untouched on the dresser. She didn't trust her kidnapper to leave her food untampered, whoever they were had already changed her clothes while she was unconscious. She was wearing a dress that reminded her of one that she admired in a Lolita store once. The blouse was red with a large black heart surrounded with white lace on her chest and a large white heart shaped collar was attached to that. A black and gold checkered belt was around her waist that was fashioned into a bow on her back with the tails of the bow reaching the floor. The skirt was made of several tiers of red lace that reached her knees and had a black piece of cloth draped over that went down to the floor with the playing card suits embroidered along the hem. Black gloves and stockings that faded into red lace reached over her elbows and knees, red dress shoes, as well as a small gold crown pinned to her bun completed the look.

Kotori absentmindedly went over to the window again and tried to pry it open. She could tell that she was about three stories up so if she could get the window open, she could tie all the bed sheets together and climb her way down. The only problem was that the window refused to open and the glass wouldn't shatter. All she could do for now is to wait for an opening to make a run for it.

_Though who could possible want with me?_ Kotori wondered shuttering at the memory of the clawed hand that grabbed her and threw Yuma away when he tried to save her. _Not to mention I have no idea where am I. This doesn't look like Barian world…too many hearts for that. I hope Yuma's okay…._She leaned on the window sill staring out at the wasteland she could see. _Don't get into too much trouble Yuma…._

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><p>Yuma was in a spot of trouble. It seemed like a good idea at the time to scale the cliff to get to higher ground to see where he was, then realized that it was a terrible idea to attempt such a feet in dress shoes. The shoes had no grip on the rocks nearly causing to slip and fall several times. So there he was half way up the cliff debating what to do.<p>

"I could just kick the shoes off….but I really don't want to risk going barefoot from here on out."

Yuma decided to resume climbing, he was almost to the top anyway. Then his foot slipped again nearly causing to fall off the cliff face.

"Okay! Maybe not!" Then he saw his fingers slowly slipping off of the rock, "Lucky me…."

He tried to get is foot anchored back on the cliff only to dislodge his other foot sending plummeting towards the ground. Yuma closed his eyes and braced himself for impact, only to feel himself bounce upwards again.

"What the…." Yuma looked down and saw an odd red mushroom where he assumed he landed. Gravity kicked again as he fell back to the ground and as soon as he hit the mushroom, he bounced once again.

"Okay….mushrooms here acts like trampolines…Kind of cool actually." Yuma righted himself to prepare himself for the next bounce and when his feet made contact with the mushroom surface, he launched himself upwards and landed on top of the cliff.

"Now then….let's figure out where were going Astral…" Yuma paused. He was really stupid. Astral wasn't with him this time. He went back home, Yuma was going to have to face whatever this is alone. He felt some tears form in his eyes, "I'm a real idiot."

"Perhaps a lack of sense is a good thing."

Yuma growled, the cat was back, "Are you following me?"

The cat looked around as if looking for someone else, "I follow those who are need of guidance and seeing that you are the only one here that would be a yes."

Yuma rolled his eyes, "Do you make fun of everyone you talk to?"

"Funny, that's something she might say." The cat chuckled.

"Wait, she? Do you mean Kotori?" Yuma was hopeful.

The cat ignored him and instead he looked towards his left, "Wonderland is unkind to both its creator and visitors. Perhaps you should arm yourself." The cat motioned with his paw to a path leading into some trees.

Yuma looked between the cat and the path seriously debating what to do. But seeing that this cat was going to be his only help in this place, he started down the path into the forest. The foliage was dense but did nothing to dim the light. Further down the path the scenery changed a bit, more and more dominos were appearing nearly creating a paved road. Other large than life toys appeared as well, mainly jacks and marbles. Eventually the path ended where Yuma discovered a small table with a box on it and some sort of mallet leaning against it.

"How are these consider weapons?" Yuma picked up the box and opened it, finding playing cards of the face variety with a large red A on the back.

"52 pickup is a staple of juvenile humor, but when the deck slices and dices, it's no laughing matter." The cat said as he appeared on a nearby chair.

Yuma felt his mind going crazy trying to figure out the cat's riddle and instead picked up the mallet to give it a good look over. It was solid wood and the head of the mallet was carved into a bird's head.

"Here's a riddle, when is a croquette mallet like a billy club? I'll tell you, whenever you want it to be."

Yuma shuttered a bit at the cat's description but regardless, he slipped the deck of cards into his pocket and took the croquette mallet with him heading back out of the forest and back to the main path. Thankfully it looked like that the cat wasn't following him. He started to swing the mallet around as he walked watching the forest go by. Eventually the trees cleared a bit giving him a better view of what was around him. The sky seemed too faded off a bit into orange off in the distance as Yuma could make out the silhouette of a factory.

"Maybe someone's over there…." Yuma muttered to himself as he turned to head in that direction.

"Excuse me young man."

Yuma froze at the sound of a woman's voice, "What now?" He wondered out loud as he turned and to his surprise, found a rather large home that seemed twice the size it needed to be. How did he miss that?

"Come on in, I have a bit of a favor to ask." The front door opened, something that Yuma was grateful for due to the fact he couldn't reach the doorknob. He entered the home and smelted something cooking. Wiping his mouth he found the kitchen and saw the strangest looking woman he ever seen. At least he hoped it was a woman. She was twice his height and had over sized features, neck almost swallowed by her head not to mention the ridiculous hat and veil she was wearing and the dress seem to be…squeezing her too tight in places. She grinned as she saw Yuma.

"Such a strong lad I see, though I never thought I would see a lad enter Wonderland."

Yuma just stood jaw dropped, there was really no way to describe what he was seeing. The woman continued, "Can you be such a dear and clear out my back yard of bolterflies? They've been becoming a handful lately and I couldn't be really bothered to do it myself."

"Excuse me….miss? What is that factory in the distance?" Yuma asked once he found his voice.

"Factory? Oh hun, you do not want to go over there. Hatter has gone madder than usual, gone about tearing things up and "fixing" them." The woman scoffed.

"Hatter?" This was making no sense, "I think I have to go over there. I'm looking for a friend."

"Friend? You don't look like a friend of Alice." The woman questioned.

"Alice? No, I'm looking for a girl named Kotori." Yuma corrected her, "We got separated."

The woman seemed to be in thought, "I still wouldn't go there…but if you clear out the bolterflies, I'll give you a short cut to Hatter's factory. Maybe your friend is over there."

Yuma grinned in gratitude, "Thanks, so where are these bolterflies?"

"Right through there, make sure you get rid of the nest too." The woman pointed to a door that opened up. Yuma sprinted as fast as he could through it.

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><p>Alice stormed her way through the Vale of Tears looking for signs of the intruder. So far there was a crater and some footprints but other than that, there was really no evidence of anyone entering Wonderland.<p>

"Curiouser and curiouser," she muttered to herself. Certainly the intruder would have had more of an effect on Wonderland by now.

"Perhaps the weed still needs time to grow, or perhaps it is not a weed at all."

Alice sighed, "Hello Cheshire, where has your mangy hide been recently."

Cheshire kept his grin, "You seek the one who has entered but you have never once considered if he is friend or foe."

"I allowed Bumby in far too easily, I am not going to have a repeat of that mind you." Alice scoffed.

"These years of isolation have done you both good and bad Alice. Things have changed on the other side of the looking glass. Maybe things have changed here as well."

"Never mind cat…" Alice ignored him, she had an intruder to find.


	3. Escapes and Fights

Merry Christmas everyone! And to those who don't, Happy Hanukah, Joyous Kwanzaa, and Spiritually Fulfilling Equinox. I think that covers it.

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><p>Yuma could hear the buzzing of these bolterflies, but no sign of whatever they were. He tightened the grip on the mallet really unsure of what size this pest he was supposed to eliminate. He would have asked the woman for a better description but he had a feeling in his gut not to stay in her kitchen any longer than possible.<p>

"Just where are these things?" Yuma looked around trying to find the source of the buzzing. The woman had mentioned something about a nest so it would be a good idea to find that first. The buzzing was getting louder so he guess that was a good sign, if the high pitched buzz that sounded like it was getting closer was a good sign too.

_Wait what?_

Yuma felt something smack into his back really hard sending him face first into the dirt. Recovering he looked up and saw what hit him, a bolt. An actual large bolt, with fly wings.

"So I guess that's a bolterfly….bolt….fly…." Yuma face palmed, how was he supposed to know the name was to be taken literally.

The bolterfly charged at him again but Yuma dodged by rolling out of the way and swung the mallet but he fly proved to be too fast and flew out of the way.

"Get back here!" Yuma swung several more times trying to hit the darn thing but it kept dodging. Taking a moment to catch his breath he saw two more join the first, "Well this is just peachy….."

The flies were fast and Yuma was getting tired and he was no closer to hitting them, "Hold still!" Yuma swung in vain. The bolterflies seemed to be tired of him as well as all three of them charged at once. Against better judgment, Yuma just threw his arms up in defense.

_Squelch._

Yuma slowly looked up to see what had made the sound. One of the bolterflies was now on the ground, wings twitching with the last of its life, and a playing card embedded into its body, the same cards that Yuma had put into his pocket.

Yuma pulled out the box in wonder, how did the card launch by itself, and were the edges really that sharp? There was no time to ponder this as he saw the remaining two bolterflies charging for him again and without thinking he held up the box in front of him.

Cards shot out like homing missiles chasing the flies that changed their course trying to avoid their fate but the cards hit their mark. The now dead flies hit the ground but there was still the sound of buzzing.

_That's right…there's still a nest to find._ Yuma scanned the tree tops and saw it, a clump of gunk and bolts that was vibrating and buzzing, no doubt that was the nest. Yuma aimed the deck of cards at where it was hanging from the trees and fired. The cards sliced at the branch dropping the nest to the ground allowing Yuma to run up to it and go to town with the croquette mallet leaving it a pile of mush.

"Is that it?" Yuma asked, only to hear more buzzing and spotted two more nests, "Oh joy….."

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><p>"Thank you so much young man."<p>

Yuma ignored the woman, he was covered in cuts and bruises not to mention he felt exhausted.

"Looks like you need a pick me up dearie." The woman waddled over to a cupboard pulling out a bottle filled with red liquid and handed it to him, "Just a spot of this and you'll be bright as day."

Yuma turned over the bottle in his hand before pulling out the stopper and took a sip. Already he felt more energized and saw the small scrapes and bruises on his hand vanish, "Wow…."

"Rose elixir fixes any ailment young man and as for my promise," A door that was the correct size for Yuma opened, "Go through there and take the boat and follow the river. That will take you to Hatter's Domain in half the time. Just be wary of the fish, they like to nip."

"Thank you errr….." Yuma didn't know the woman's name.

"I am just a simple Duchess now run along…" She nudged him with her wooden spoon towards the door.

"Thank you very much Duchess!" Yuma called out as he ran through the door onto a small dock with the aforementioned boat tied to it. Yuma hopped in untying it and used the mallet to push off. Now he was getting somewhere.

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><p>Kotori took a deep breath as she got her plan ready. Using pieces from the destroyed chair, she wedged the food door shut and she stood against the wall next to the door armed with the serving tray from earlier. Hopefully when who ever brought her food would be unable to open the flap, they would open the door to investigate allowing her to knock them out and make a run for it. Now she just had to wait and see if it all worked. Footsteps were approaching as well as scraping of metal, she heard the groaning of someone as the bent down and tried to wiggle the flapped. Kotori had to bite her lip from squealing in delight, the flap remain shut. Step one was a go. There was more grumbling as whoever tried to open the flap was annoyed followed by the jingling of keys here heard. Kotori was now holding her breath, the lock clicked, the door slowly opened, Kotori closed her eyes and swung as hard as she could.<p>

_**CLANG!**_

The serving tray connected with something hard and the victim slumped to the floor. Kotori took a look at the now damage tray seeing a nice impression of whatever she hit. A very skeletal face. Kotori looked at who she hit and felt sick just by looking. The thing looked like a giant playing card with arms, legs, and head made of flesh that was decaying and peeling away from the body. She was glad that is was face down so she didn't have to see its face.

Kotori smacked her cheeks and collected herself, now was her chance. She stepped over the body and ran as fast as she could then stumble to a stop. There were more the card guards up ahead, armed with spears. She turned around and ran in the opposite direction.

_Just what are those things!? I need to get out of here…_Kotori winced in pain proving that the shoes were not the best for running. _I need a weapon or something, there's no way I can fight those things if one saw me._ Kotori turned the corner and saw an open door leading to a kitchen. _A kitchen? If there's a kitchen then there's a…frying pan!_ Kotori ran in and grabbed the pan from the shelf. _Better than nothing._ She reassured herself and resumed her run a little more confident this time around.

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><p>Yuma laid down in the boat a little bored, compared to the bolterflies from earlier, things where rather calm. The woods cleared and now he was traveling through an empty plane and the factory in question was much closer but now Yuma could see that there was a canyon in the way. He hoped the river would carry him through the entire thing. The sky was fading to orange now as Yuma turned the mallet in his hands examining the carvings again.<p>

"Don't get too comfortable, danger strikes when you least expect it."

Yuma sat up in shock and turned around seeing the skeletal cat sitting on the stern of the boat, "What do you want cat?"

"You have become more accustomed to being here, but have you truly become mad enough? For we are all mad here." The cat grinned more than usual.

Yuma was unamused, "Just what are you?"

"Why I am the simple Cheshire Cat. Friend to all and friend to none."

"Add confusing as heck to description." Yuma muttered.

Cheshire ignored the comment and instead looked up to the canyon wall, "Stay on your guard every minute. When mad, one does not care about if one is friend or foe." He vanished after that.

Yuma blinked in confusion and looked up to where Cheshire was looking. He couldn't quite make it out but there was something on the canyon wall. There was something that looked like a gnome or a gremlin, wearing a tea cup on its head. It was shouting in its own language pointing at Yuma with a giant knife in its hand.

"What is that thing?" Yuma managed to ask before having to hit the deck as a large boulder was launched at him missing and splashing in the water behind him. A whole army of gnomes had appeared on the canyon wall armed with a catapult with its sights set on Yuma. Recovering from the shock, Yuma started to use the croquette mallet as an oar hopefully to get himself moving fast and avoid the flying debris. "Is everything trying to kill me here?!"

One gnome smacked another muttering something then ordered the lot of shift the catapult a bit then fired again. The boulder missed Yuma by inches, but smashed the back half of the boat.

"Gah!" Yuma fell in the river with a splash, the cold water hitting him like needles. Gasping for air, he tried to swim for the remaining bits of the boat but something bit his ankle and pulled him under. Trying not to lose his breath, Yuma looked at what had decided to make a feast out of his leg. The best way to describe it was an anglerfish with legs with its spiny teeth sunk deep into his ankle. Yuma did his best fighting the water resistance to beat it with the mallet but all he managed to do was to poke it in the eye angering it pulling him further underwater. Feeling his lungs starting to give out, Yuma willed some of the playing cards to fly out and sliced the fish to bits. Free from the creature's mouth, he started swimming up as fast as he could.

_Come on…come on…_.He could see the light from the surface, but black was encroaching on his vision. _Almost….there…._It was too far. Yuma let out his breath and began to sink into the depths.

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><p>I mean aren't I? Please leave some reviews! I would love hear what you guys are thinking about this one and I would love to hear any suggestions or hopes you have for this fic.<p> 


	4. Cake and Crabs

Yuma thought he was drowning until it felt like someone pumped his lungs full of air again. Coughing hard as his body rediscovered oxygen, he rolled over on the sandy bottom trying to catch his breath.

"How am I still alive?" He wondered out loud, "Even better…how am I even breathing water?"

No answer, not even the Cheshire Cat appeared to spout some mumbo jumbo. Yuma sat up and felt an odd texture when gripping his knee. Looking down and much to his surprise, his clothes had changed again. He now wore a sleeveless shirt that seemed to be made out of some sort of skin pearl in color, the neckline cutting low enough to show a bit of his chest and fin like crests extended from that and his shoulders. A red sash that looked like a fish fin was wrapped around his waist the ends flowing free. The pants where made of black scales and cut off mid shin leaving Yuma completely barefoot. The bite on his ankle was still bleeding so he took one of the silk wraps that were now on his arms and used it to bandage his ankle. And once again, the Emperor's Key remained unchanged.

Yuma stood up brushing his hair out of his face that for once was obeying the laws of gravity and was getting everywhere. Collecting the croquette mallet from where it landed and making sure he still had the playing cards with him, he began trying to figure out how to get back to the surface. Looking up it seemed like the water went up forever like it was the sky so swimming upward didn't seem like a good idea. Plus he was standing on the ground rather than floating so it was like the water wasn't even around him.

"There's got to be something…like a ladder or a submarine…." Yuma muttered to himself. Well if he could breathe down here, maybe someone lives down here too. He could see some sunken ships up ahead, parts scavenge long ago but in the middle of these ship, Yuma could make out a town. "Good place to start…." He slid down the banks making his way to the town.

….

"Out of the frying pan into the fire…." Kotori panted. She had managed to navigate her way outside the castle only to get into a giant hedge maze. Word of her escape must have gotten out too as there more and more card guards around every corner. In hindsight, she might have been better off grabbing a knife from the kitchen but there was no way she could find her way back there now. "Just how do I get out of here?"

"Up, down, left, or right, any way is the right way when you are lost."

Kotori nearly screamed when she saw Cheshire Cat materialize right in front of her. "W-who…what…are you?"

Cheshire grinned, "I am the Cheshire Cat."

"Cheshire….like the Cheshire Cat from _Alice in Wonderland_?" Kotori asked.

"It seems that our tale has been corrupted by society. But I am Cheshire Cat and this…" He gestured with his paw, "…is Wonderland."

"This….this is Wonderland?" Kotori was now extremely confused, "But…but this is nothing like the books!"

"Careful of retellings for they have a tendency to hide the truth and make things…tamer."

"At least you still talk in riddles and cryptic clues." Kotori muttered, "Well then….I don't suppose you know of a way out of here?"

"The Queen's reach goes far and wide. No hope for one ill prepared and ill equipped. But perhaps a bite of cake…and you'll be leaving faster than a falling snowflake." Cheshire vanished after that.

"Cake….I suppose that's the Eat Me cake….but where can I find that?" Kotori wondered as she peaked around a corner checking if the coast was clear, two guards just standing to the right with their backs to her. If she could carefully step to the left then she could…

_**SCHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!**_

A scream like an alarm echoed throughout the hedge maze, Kotori looked down in horror and discovered that she had stepped on an eyeball! The guards now alerted to her presents roared at her proceeded to give chase.

"What was an eyeball doing there!?" Kotori screamed as she tried to out run them. "Just what kind of Wonderland is this?!"

More guards turn the corner in front of her forcing to take her next left when she saw salvation. Sitting on a table in front her was a cake, with Eat Me written on top. "Here goes nothing…." Kotori took the largest bite she could.

The guard cards were closing in on their prey, then backed up when she began to grow bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, and bigger, until she was twice the height of the castle. A few dropped their weapons in shock.

"This is weird…." Kotori tried to keep her balanced surprised at hearing an echo in her voice. Some of the card guards had regain their senses and started poking her legs with their spears.

"Ow! Stop that!" Kotori tried to kick it away…only to step on it instead. "Ew…ewewewewewEW!" Kotori ran forward not even daring to look down at the ground or even at the bottom of her shoe. More guards were running towards her and others came with rope and took positions on top of towers. "Just leave me alone!" Kotori smacked the tower guards off their perches and pulled on the ropes they tried to use to pull her down. Squishing sounds where coming from underneath her shoes leaving her no guesses as to what was happening down there. "I seriously doubt this is Wonderland…." Kotori stomped forward over hedge and castle walls towards the empty fields that were in the distance. "I hope this cake doesn't have a time limit…." The final wall rested at about her waist level, but one good kick to its supports sent it tumbling down. "Now to get back to normal size….." At least she could cover good ground like this.

…..

Yuma found himself in the underwater town called Barrellbottom according to the sign to be honest, it wasn't much. There were fish people everywhere living in buildings made from wreckage and going about their day paying Yuma no mind.

"I don't think fish people would want to go above water….." If he could find one human resident, maybe then he could get some help.

"The Carpenter is putting on another show I hear."

"Delightful…I hear those are good fun."

"Excuse me…" Yuma managed to catch the fish couple's attention, "You just mentioned a Carpenter?"

"Oh yes…you'll find him at the Dreary Lane Theater," The fish pointed with his fin to a building at the edge of town, "If you hurry you can get a seat for the show."

Yuma gave them a quick thank and ran for the theater pushing the heavy door open.

"Wake up you lazy buffoon! The show is this evening and nothing is ready!"

Yuma heard a voice from the other side of the curtain separating the foyer from the theater. Pushing it back and to his great relief he saw a person standing a good foot taller than him with messy short red hair and wearing nothing but pants and a workers apron and had a noticeable peg leg. The man was currently smacking a sleeping walrus with a hammer. "For the love of theater can't you stay awake for one rehearsal?" The man paused as he noticed Yuma, "No shows until tonight lad. Be on your way."

"I'm not here for a show."

The man turned furious and stormed up to Yuma, "You have no love for the theater?!"

"Th-that's not what I meant! I was hoping that you had a way back up to the surface!" Yuma stammered.

The man seemed to calm down a bit, "I'm just the Carpenter, what makes you think that I have a way up?"

"Well….don't you build things?" Yuma asked.

"Why yes I do, I built this theater, I built the stage, and I build the shows…which would go on if I weren't surrounded by incompetent fools!" Carpenter shouted back at the walrus, who just snored in his sleep.

"So…can you help me?"

"Depends on what you want boy?" Carpenter said while fiddling with his hammer.

"I'm looking for a friend, we got separated and I was on my way to a factory when my boat got sunk." Yuma explained.

Carpenter rubbed his chin, "You could be looking in the wrong place boy. Wonderland is huge not to mention harsh. You could try going to the Caterpillar, he knows everything. But Alice might know as well…but she is one you do not casually approach least you want your guts on the outside of your body."

"She's….not that bad…is she?" Yuma asked hopeful.

"Mad….mad she is I tell ya. I bet she currently holds a grudge against me…not after she discovered my…activities during her last visit down here." Carpenter whispered.

"What sort of activities?"

"Never mind that, you best be off to Caterpillar instead. Much more peaceful to approach, I'll send ye back to the surface if you…" And explosion shook the theater, "Blast those Cannon Crabs out of here!"

"Cannon Crabs?!" Yuma panicked as the theater shook again.

"Aye…been making my theater their target practice…." Carpenter stormed over to the stage whacking the walrus really hard actually rousing him from sleep this time. "Get you up fool or else there won't be a stage at all." Carpenter climbed onto the walrus' back and they duo swam out a side door. Yuma followed sort of curious as to what these Cannon Crabs looked like.

Like their name, they were rather large crabs but one of their claws where replaced with a large cannon and the crabs were somehow smoking a cigar that they were using to light the fuse. There were about five of them approaching the building pausing every now and them to fire striking the side of the building.

"You best flip them over lad, underbellies are really soft." Carpenter told Yuma twirling his hammer, "Here's how it's done." He leapt off the walrus swinging upward flipping a crab onto its back then brought the hammer right back down striking the underside cracking the shell.

Yuma didn't have to time to stare in awe as another crab was approaching him. He readied the croquette mallet wonder how was he going to get the strength to flip the thing over. _This is not going to work…_The crab fired its cannon at Yuma who leapt out of the way then had to roll over to dodge an incoming claw. Yuma swung the mallet getting the crab to tilt upward a bit not enough to flip it over. _Just a little more force, then I could hit the weak point._ The crab charged again this time Yuma was ready and swung the mallet again this time with the combined force of the charging crab and Yuma's strength, he successes in knocking it up onto its hind legs showing its underbelly.

"Here goes nothing!" Yuma struck the while shell as hard as he could and to his surprise, the mallet actually gave off electric sparks shocking the crab which fell on its back allowing Yuma to give it the finishing blow. "I'm not going to question how wood gives off electricity underwater." Yuma looked around to the three remaining crabs, "Hey could I get some help?"

But the Carpenter and the walrus were nowhere to be seen.

"Aw come on! There's no way I can take three at once!"

"Weak…"

Yuma was surprised to hear a woman's voice, even more so when cloud of butterflies soared past him. What happened next went to fast for him to follow. The butterflies formed into a person only to turn back into the cloud zooming around the crabs swinging a large weapon flipping the crabs over with ease and smashing them. The cloud came towards him and before he could make out any features of the person that formed from them, something hard hit his head and saw nothing but black.


End file.
